# Making graphene: six routes compared

> Graphene is made top-down, by taking graphite apart, or bottom-up, from carbon atoms. Tape gives few-atom-thick crystals of remarkably high quality, solvents and shear give dispersions by the litre, oxidation gives graphene oxide that stays defective after reduction, CVD on copper and growth on SiC give films, and flash Joule heating turns cheap carbon into gram-scale graphene in under a second.

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- Updated: 2026-10-14
- Category: Graphene research
- Method: Production
- Starting materials: Graphite (top-down); methane, silicon carbide or cheap carbon sources (bottom-up)
- Product: Flakes, dispersions, graphene oxide, films or bulk graphene, depending on the route
- Key result: Drawings by LabCanvas; every number is quoted from the route’s own paper
- Figure: 1920 × 1080 px, 46 editable layers (6 generated objects with settings)

## Steps

1. **Mechanical exfoliation**: Few-atom-thick crystals of remarkably high quality, stable under ambient conditions, with electrons and holes up to 10¹³ cm⁻² and room-temperature mobilities of about 10,000 cm²/V·s (Novoselov et al. 2004)
2. **Liquid-phase and shear exfoliation**: Graphite in solvents whose surface energy matches graphene’s, such as NMP: up to about 0.01 mg/mL and about 1 wt % monolayers, free of defects and oxides (Hernandez et al. 2008). High-shear mixing exfoliates once the local shear rate passes 10⁴ s⁻¹, from hundreds of millilitres to hundreds of litres (Paton et al. 2014)
3. **Oxidation and reduction**: Graphite oxidised to graphite oxide (Hummers & Offeman 1958) exfoliates easily, but the oxidation needs harsh oxidants and leaves the graphene defective and perforated after reduction (Luong et al. 2020)
4. **CVD on copper**: Methane on copper foil gives centimetre-scale films that are mostly one layer, under 5 % of the area thicker, continuous across copper steps and grain boundaries and self-limiting because carbon barely dissolves in copper; transferred devices reached 4,050 cm²/V·s (Li et al. 2009). Roll-to-roll makes 30-inch films (Bae et al. 2010)
5. **Epitaxy on SiC**: Annealing Si-terminated SiC(0001) in about 1 bar of argon gives monolayer films with much larger domains than the 30–200 nm grains of growth in vacuum; mobilities reached 2,000 cm²/V·s at 27 K (Emtsev et al. 2009)
6. **Flash Joule heating**: Coal, petroleum coke, biochar, carbon black, food waste, rubber tyres or mixed plastic waste become gram-scale turbostratic graphene in less than a second, with no furnace, solvents or reactive gases; 80–90 % yield and over 99 % carbon from high-carbon sources, for about 7.2 kJ of electricity per gram (Luong et al. 2020)

## Strengths

- Shear exfoliation scales to hundreds of litres (Paton et al. 2014)
- CVD films reach 30 inches and transfer roll to roll (Bae et al. 2010)
- Flash Joule heating needs no furnace, solvents or reactive gases (Luong et al. 2020)

## Limitations

- Oxidation leaves defective, perforated graphene after reduction (Luong et al. 2020)
- Solvent exfoliation gives about 1 wt % monolayers (Hernandez et al. 2008)
- In vacuum, SiC gives small grains of 30–200 nm (Emtsev et al. 2009)

## Uses

- Research devices (exfoliated flakes)
- Composites and conductive coatings (shear-exfoliated graphene; Paton et al. 2014)
- Transparent electrodes (CVD films; Bae et al. 2010)
- Bulk composites of plastics, metals, plywood and concrete (flash graphene; Luong et al. 2020)

## References

1. Novoselov et al., “Electric field effect in atomically thin carbon films”, Science 2004. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1102896 (primary)
2. Hernandez et al., “High-yield production of graphene by liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2008. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.215 (primary)
3. Paton et al., “Scalable production of large quantities of defect-free few-layer graphene by shear exfoliation in liquids”, Nat. Mater. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3944 (primary)
4. Hummers & Offeman, “Preparation of graphitic oxide”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1958. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja01539a017 (method origin)
5. Li et al., “Large-area synthesis of high-quality and uniform graphene films on copper foils”, Science 2009. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1171245 (primary)
6. Emtsev et al., “Towards wafer-size graphene layers by atmospheric pressure graphitization of silicon carbide”, Nat. Mater. 2009. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2382 (primary)
7. Luong et al., “Gram-scale bottom-up flash graphene synthesis”, Nature 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-1938-0 (primary)
8. Bae et al., “Roll-to-roll production of 30-inch graphene films for transparent electrodes”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2010. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.132 (further reading)
9. Dreyer et al., “The chemistry of graphene oxide”, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2010. https://doi.org/10.1039/B917103G (review)

Credit: After Novoselov et al., Science 2004 (doi:10.1126/science.1102896), Hernandez et al. 2008, Paton et al. 2014, Hummers & Offeman 1958, Li et al. 2009, Emtsev et al. 2009 and Luong et al., Nature 2020. Drawn by LabCanvas.

## Questions

**What does the “Making graphene: six routes compared” template show?** Graphene is made top-down, by taking graphite apart, or bottom-up, from carbon atoms. Tape gives few-atom-thick crystals of remarkably high quality, solvents and shear give dispersions by the litre, oxidation gives graphene oxide that stays defective after reduction, CVD on copper and growth on SiC give films, and flash Joule heating turns cheap carbon into gram-scale graphene in under a second.

**What are the steps shown in “Making graphene: six routes compared”?** 1. Mechanical exfoliation: Few-atom-thick crystals of remarkably high quality, stable under ambient conditions, with electrons and holes up to 10¹³ cm⁻² and room-temperature mobilities of about 10,000 cm²/V·s (Novoselov et al. 2004). 2. Liquid-phase and shear exfoliation: Graphite in solvents whose surface energy matches graphene’s, such as NMP: up to about 0.01 mg/mL and about 1 wt % monolayers, free of defects and oxides (Hernandez et al. 2008). High-shear mixing exfoliates once the local shear rate passes 10⁴ s⁻¹, from hundreds of millilitres to hundreds of litres (Paton et al. 2014). 3. Oxidation and reduction: Graphite oxidised to graphite oxide (Hummers & Offeman 1958) exfoliates easily, but the oxidation needs harsh oxidants and leaves the graphene defective and perforated after reduction (Luong et al. 2020). 4. CVD on copper: Methane on copper foil gives centimetre-scale films that are mostly one layer, under 5 % of the area thicker, continuous across copper steps and grain boundaries and self-limiting because carbon barely dissolves in copper; transferred devices reached 4,050 cm²/V·s (Li et al. 2009). Roll-to-roll makes 30-inch films (Bae et al. 2010). 5. Epitaxy on SiC: Annealing Si-terminated SiC(0001) in about 1 bar of argon gives monolayer films with much larger domains than the 30–200 nm grains of growth in vacuum; mobilities reached 2,000 cm²/V·s at 27 K (Emtsev et al. 2009). 6. Flash Joule heating: Coal, petroleum coke, biochar, carbon black, food waste, rubber tyres or mixed plastic waste become gram-scale turbostratic graphene in less than a second, with no furnace, solvents or reactive gases; 80–90 % yield and over 99 % carbon from high-carbon sources, for about 7.2 kJ of electricity per gram (Luong et al. 2020).

**What are the starting materials and the product?** Starting materials: Graphite (top-down); methane, silicon carbide or cheap carbon sources (bottom-up). Product: Flakes, dispersions, graphene oxide, films or bulk graphene, depending on the route.

**Which papers is “Making graphene: six routes compared” based on?** Novoselov et al., “Electric field effect in atomically thin carbon films”, Science 2004 (doi:10.1126/science.1102896); Hernandez et al., “High-yield production of graphene by liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2008 (doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.215); Paton et al., “Scalable production of large quantities of defect-free few-layer graphene by shear exfoliation in liquids”, Nat. Mater. 2014 (doi:10.1038/nmat3944); Hummers & Offeman, “Preparation of graphitic oxide”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1958 (doi:10.1021/ja01539a017); Li et al., “Large-area synthesis of high-quality and uniform graphene films on copper foils”, Science 2009 (doi:10.1126/science.1171245); Emtsev et al., “Towards wafer-size graphene layers by atmospheric pressure graphitization of silicon carbide”, Nat. Mater. 2009 (doi:10.1038/nmat2382); Luong et al., “Gram-scale bottom-up flash graphene synthesis”, Nature 2020 (doi:10.1038/s41586-020-1938-0); Bae et al., “Roll-to-roll production of 30-inch graphene films for transparent electrodes”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2010 (doi:10.1038/nnano.2010.132); Dreyer et al., “The chemistry of graphene oxide”, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2010 (doi:10.1039/B917103G).

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